Brigham Young and the Camp of Israel passed through Davis County, Iowa, near the present town of Drakesville, Iowa, on March 20, 1846. They crossed the Fox River and camped a few miles west of Drakesville.
Now standing in the Drakesville City Park is an old log cabin seen in these images. A tradition persists that the cabin was built by Mormon pioneers as they were traveling through the area. These first pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had encountered significant hardships from the conditions of the trail in extreme southern Iowa. Consequently, they instructed those who followed to take a different route or routes.
Main Street in Drakesville is divided by a grassy island on which is a historical interpretive panel that gives insights into the utilization of these new derivations or routes of the trail used by the Saints who followed. Thousands subsequently took the new trail and, thus, recharged the Mormon Trail in Iowa.